Calendak-clock



'E. PRICHARD.

Calendar Clock.

Patnted June 5, 1860.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EBEN PRICHARD, OF YVATERBURY, CONNECTICUT.

CALENDAR-CLOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 28,608, dated June 5, 1860.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EBEN PRICHARD, of \Vaterbury, in the county of LTQWHaven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Calendar- Clocks; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1 is a front view of a calendar clock,with my improvement having the dial broken away to show the calendarmovement. Fig. 2, is a central vertical section of the same. Fig. 8, isa face view of a cam which constitutes part of the calendar movement.Fig. 4, is a separate view of what I call the extension piece attachedto said cam.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in bothfigures.

My invention consists in a certain novel and very simple and sure meansof effecting the completion of the revolution of the month wheel at thetermination of the months of less than thirty one days, throughout everyquadrennial period.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

A represents the framing in which the several parts of the calendarmovement are supported, arranged below the clock movement. B is thewheel, which drives the calendar movement, attached to an arbor a, whichworks in bearings in the frame A, and deriving motion from the clockmovement in such manner that it completes its movement every twenty-fourhours. This wheel carries two pins a, and Z), the latter of which movesthe index 0, which indicates the names of the days of the week on thedial D, and the former the index 6, which indicates the days of themonth upon the dial.

The day of the week index C, is carried by an arbor c which works inbearings in the framing A, above the arbor j, of the wheel B, and towhich is secured a wheel f, having seven ratchet like teeth upon one ofwhich the pin 6, of the twenty four hour wheel A, acts once during everyrevolution of the wheel B to produce one seventh part of a revolution ofthe index C, which is always arrested in proper position, at the end ofevery such portion of a revolution, by means of a spring pawl g, whichis attached to the framing A, and which enters the spaces between theteeth of the wheel 7".

The day of the month index a, is carried by the arbor c, of the monthwheel (Z, said arbor being arranged to rotate in bearings in the framingA, above the arbor 7', of the wheel B, and said wheel (Z, having thirtyone teeth, upon one of which the pin (4 acts at the end of every day toproduce the thirty-first portion of a revolution of the said wheel inthe direction of the arrow shown upon it in Fig. 1. The said wheel (Z,is arrested in proper position, at the end of every such portion of arevolution by means of a pawl 2' which is attached to the framing A, andhas applied to it a spring 2', which causes it to enter the spacesbetween the teeth of the said wheel, such teeth being beveled on oneside to allow them to pass the pawl when the wheel is moved by the pina. The arbor e, of the month wheel 0, also carries a pinion 70, whichgears with and imparts an annual revolution to a wheel Z, having twelvetimes the number of teeth, on the arbor m, of the index m, which pointsto the names of the month on the dial D. This arbor m which works inbearings below the month wheel (Z, carries a cam E of peculiarconstruction which governs the operation of a lever F and attached dogG, by the latter of which a pin 11. attached to the month wheel is actedupon to give the said wheel the necessary movement to complete itsrevolution at the end of every month of less than thirty one days.

The lever F is fitted to work upon a fixed fulcrum, 2,, and the dog G,is attached to the lever F by a pin 5, and has applied to it a spring iwhich tends to press it downward, and keep its lower edge in contactwith a stationary guide pin 27 The cam E of which Fig. 3, is a face viewis of nearly circular form, but has in its circumference five notches 0,0, 0, 0, 0', each having one side radial to the axis of the cam, and theother side formed with a gradual level or curve, the edges of suchradial sides being at those points of the circumference where thethirtieth days of the months of thirty days and the twentyeighth day ofFebruary would terminate if the cam were divided by radial lines intotwelve equal parts representing the months and those divisions weresubdivided each into thirty one parts, representing days.

1), form arcs of the same circle concentric to the axis of its arbor m.This cam being secured to the arbor m, completes its revolution in thedirection of the arrow shown upon it in Figs. 1 and 3, once in a year,and as it rotates, a pin g which is secured in the lever F, and whichmay be furnished with an antifriction roller, is caused to bear upon itscircumference by the action of a spring 1", which is connected with thesaid lever by a rod 8. Every time the edge of the radial side of one ofthe notches passes the said pin 9, the said pin 9, drops suddenly into anotch, and as the cam continues its rotation, the pin is moved outwardfrom the center of the cam by the action of the inclined side of thenotch, till it arrives on the top of one of the arc formed portions.

The operation of the cam, the lever F, and dog G, are as follows. As amonth of thirty one days passes by, the pin a, on the wheel B operatesupon one tooth of the month wheel, and gives it the same movement on thelast day of such month, as upon any other day of the year, and the pin nafter lifting up the dog G, and passing by it, is prevented being actedupon by the said dog in consequence of the lever F, being at the timeheld back by the pin 9 resting on one of the are formed portions of thecam E; but at or just before the end of the last day of a month ofthirty days, the pin 12., having just passed the dog G, the edge of oneof the four shallower notches 0, passes the pin a, and allows the saidpin to fall into the notch, and so permits the spring a, to draw thelever F, suddenly toward the center of the cam, far enough to make thedog, by its end coming against the pin a, give the month wheel cl, amovement equal to one-thirtyfirst portion of a revolution, so making itsmonthly revolution complete. This action of the dog takes place justbefore the pin a, effects its daily operation, on the said wheel to movethe index 6, to the first day of the month marked upon the dial. Asimilar action takes place at the end of the month of February,whenexcept in February of leap years, which has twenty nine days, forwhich a special provision, to be presently described, is made,-the pinq, falls over the deeper notch 0, and the dog G, by its action, on thepin a, makes the month wheel (Z, perform three thirty-first parts of arevolution, to make its monthly revolution complete. The dog is alwaysprevented moving the wheel (Z, farther than is necessary to complete itsmonthly revolution, by the lever F, coming in contact with the guide pin6 The change in the operation of the calendar which becomes necessary atthe end of February ofleap year is effected by means of what I call theextension piece H, of which a separate view is given in Fig. 4, butwhich is shown in its place attached to the cam E, in Figs. 1, 2 and 3,and the four year wheel I shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The extensionpiece-consists of a curved strip of metal plate, having near one end anotch or jog 0 of a depth about or nearly equal to the depth of thenotch 0, of the cam E, and of a similar form to the said notch. It isattached to the cam E, at a point almost diametrically opposite thenotch 0 by means of a pin 10 upon which it is capable of vibratingfreely as far as permitted by a pin 1), secured in it near the jog 0 andpassing through a short slot V, in the cam, the arrangement of the saidpins u, and 11, being such that the part 3 of the extension piece abovethe jog 0 may be made to form a continuation of the prominent part 0 ofthe cam, on which the pin g, rests during the month of February, beyondthe edge of the notch 0, a distance equal to one three hundred andsixty-fifth part of the circumference of the cam as shown in Fig. 3. Itis however only during the approach of and until just after the last dayof February in leap years, that the saidpart, y, of the extension pieceis permitted to project beyond the edge of the notch 0, the said piecebeing held back from the said notch as shown in Fig. 1, at all othertimes, by means of a spring .2, applied between it and the cam.

As the end of February approaches the extension piece is brought intothe position shown in Fig. 3, by the action on its inner curve y, of apin w, attached to the four year calendar wheel I, which is fast on ahorizontal arbor 5, working in bearings be tween the arbors e, and m,andwhich gears with and derives a quadrennial revolution from a pinion6, with one-fourth the number of teeth, on the arbor m, of the annuallyrevolving cam m. The extension piece when brought to this positionprevents the pin 9, falling into the notch 0, at the end of thetwenty-eighth day of February, but permits it to fall thereinto, at theend of the twenty-ninth day, and thus at that time permits the dog G toact upon the pin a, to complete the revolution of the month wheel.

In order to prevent the month wheel being carried beyond the properposition by the momentum imparted to it by the action of the dog G anextra pressure is brought upon its pawl i, at the time of the action of7 the said dog, by the action of a pin 9, carried by the cam E, upon alever-like spring 7 which works upon a fixed fulcrum, 8, and which iscaused by thesaid pin 9, to press forcibly against the said pawl, whichis relieved of this extra pressure, again by the said pin passing thespring after the month wheel has been stopped. The cam E carries anotherpin 10, which, once in its annual revolution, acts upon a tooth of awheel J, which carries the index of the dates of the years.

\Vhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The combination of the notched annually revolving cam E, and themovable eX- tension piece H, applied substantially as herein described,in combination with the quadrennially revolving wheel I, to control theaction of a spring upon a dog G, or its EBEN PRICHARD.

Vitnesses CALVIN H. CARTER, J. \V. KnLLocG.

